Since 06-20-04
Historic Razorback submarine that stopped in Key West reaches New Orleans
Since 06-20-04
The trip from Turkey included a stopover in Key West, Fla., last Sunday. Officials said the 312-foot long submarine is the first former U.S. warship to return to the United States. The U.S. Navy decommissioned the vessel on Nov. 30, 1970, and handed it over to the Turkish navy.
In about two and a half weeks, the Razorback is scheduled to be pushed by tugboat up the Mississippi to its final destination - North Little Rock. It will become a central piece to a planned inland maritime museum there.
The Razorback arrived in New Orleans after the stop in Key West, where former crewmen toured the ship and shared stories about their service on the sub, including time on the tiny island's former naval base.
The Razorback, which was also known as the SS-394, was launched in 1944 and took part in the surrender of Japan on Sept. 2, 1945 in Tokyo Bay at the end of World War II.
The vessel received five star battles during World War II and four during the Vietnam War.
The vessel - rusty and barnacled - sat high on the water Saturday, pushed by the same oceangoing tugboat that has been with it since its departure from Istanbul on May 5.
Clutches of submarine veterans stood in decorated vests and caps snapping photographs as it approached on the busy Mississippi - a hunk of metal and might with 60 years of seafaring history attached to it."It really looks good. It's like going back home when you look at that thing," said Edward Monroe-Jones, a submarine historian and author of a history of the Razorback. He also served on the Razorback for seven months as a seaman in 1953 doing lookout duty.
After serving in World War II, the Razorback was streamlined and became a
so-called "GUPPY," the acronym for a Greater Underwater Propulsion Power vessel.
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Contributed,
YNCS Don Harribine, USN(Ret)